Orange Crush

What an amazing morning! The mist in the valley below the house looks like a lake and the hills beyond are islands. I spent a bit of time in the garden yesterday, trying to weave the willow house back together and cutting the “lawn” which was two feet high!

The camera wire has resurfaced – Jake had cellotaped it to the kitchen door when I got back from work last night!- so here are some details from a recent design on linen and wool tweed. The photos are so close-up they make the fabric look like cross stitch fabric, its actually some nice linen that I found in “Boyes” and dyed “Goldfish Orange”, yum!

Today I think I might go and see an exhibition at Ryedale Folk Museum by Cheryl-ann Taylor. She is artist in residence and the exhibition “explores the construction and meaning of the dress by weaving together beautiful yarn, a strong sense of colour,delightful beading and exquisite knit stitches…”

Then its back to the grindstone with a new batch of designs…although I haven’t heard yet if the last lot were any good yet…

Good luck to everyone on the Textiles and Surface Design course at Cleveland College of Art and Design who are just starting a new term and new projects.Some of them are making blogs so I’ll look forward to seeing them soon and thanks for having a look at mine!

x

“Dead Letter Office”

I wanted to put some new pictures here today but the camera wire has disappeared , I’ve searched through boxes and boxes but no sign,its so frustrating. I think it could be a hint that I need to do a bit of autumn cleaning and getting organized. Anyway these images are of a skirt design, another bit of the Lonely Hearts project, which was mainly done using heat transfer printing but also included screen print, digital print and embroidery.

I managed to get 10 designs (girls tops/dresses) in the post today; only two short of the twelve I had been hoping to get done. The crazy Post Office situation meant I had to send them today or they would never get there by Friday.Osmotherley P.O. closed in the summer so now we have a “hosted service” in the Village Hall three days a week- unfortunately the actual post is only collected on Fridays which is insane.

I will have to wait like a nervous wreck to see whether all my hard work has been in vain, I’ve been worrying that the agent will be expecting the same level of detail that was in my college pieces, which would be nearly impossible if the general work rate needs to be at least six per week…

Now,its almost time to get the fruit cake out of the oven. Its a birthday cake for my parents so it will need lots of marzipan…Happy Birthdays Tillyer Parents!

Alban Elued

Happy Autumn Equinox! ” The Earths Cycle of Celebration” by Glennie Kindred suggests this is a time to “connect to your inner pathways,rest, re-charge, slip out of time ,dream awhile” This seems like a good idea so I’ve lit the fire and I’m sitting with a big mug of coffee, a stack of biscuits and some half done embroidery. Actually, rest is the last thing I’ll be getting as I need to finish another six design samples by Wednesday, in time to catch the post, and I’ve had to take on a few shifts at the pub due to extreme credit crunch!

So today’s offerings include a sketchbook page and a product board from my Lonely Hearts project.Lately I’ve been digging into these old college sketchbooks for new inspiration and feeling quite jealous of friends who are still at college and just setting out on new projects and shiny new sketchbooks!

Now I’d better get on with some work so I’ll leave you with these beautiful images of the work of Heidi Turner. Heidi is another of Osmotherley’s creative stars along with Jane Thorniley-Walker,Angela James and Lynne Hugil. She won the Hand and Lock prize in 2006 and is now working on commissions and teaching as well as being a constant source of support and inspiration.

Hatful of Plums

I just took a walk around the overgrown jungle that is my poor neglected garden and came back with a hatful of plums and these pictures, which include a strange bird I made one day when really I should have been doing something else.I didn’t get the beak quite the right shape so its expression is a little odd, really not very cute for all the time it took, but yet… too cute to unpick.I thought I could make loads to sell for Christmas but now I’m not so sure! Perhaps I could pickle it and try to auction it at Sotherby’s!

Things are very late up here which is why the Artichoke has just appeared and the pumpkins are flowering, too late to ever make fruit.The green, purple and pink colour scheme is good though and still looking quite summery despite the rapid browning of the surrounding moors. I really am going to do some drawing soon but right now I have to finish the final design in a group of 6 so that I can get them sent off by Friday.I’m pleased that I’ve managed to get them done in just over week but a little nervous about how they will be received…its a lot of time consuming work with no guarantee of any income at the end of it all. Anyway, I’ve finally found the pen for my Wacom Tablet (lost in the chaos of the kitchen) so its time to crack on!

Private View

I’m back on my mountain after a wonderful weekend in London.The highlight of course was Thursday evening and the private view of ” The Cadiz Caprices” at the Bernard Jacobson Gallery. Wow! the paintings looked great and I didn’t even know there were water colours as well…talk about work ethic! I wish I had half his energy. It was lovely to meet some people I hadn’t seen for about a hundred years and also some who are genuine fans of my dad’s work. ( have a look at Brian Appleyard’s blog). As usual,I apologise for the quality of these pictures , taken with my phone.

We must have walked nearly 20 miles over the weekend but it was worth the sore feet to pack in a visit to the Photographers Gallery, the fantastic, atmospheric and slightly creepy Viktor and Rolf exhibition at the Barbican and lots of frustrating shop browsing. I fell in love with everything from All Saints and discovered Desigual. Desigual are a Spanish company who have been around since the 80’s in Spain but recently opened a store on Regent Street which is a riot of colour , texture, embroidery and print. Saturday was a mad dash over to Columbia Road via Spitalfields to take a look at Ryantown and get that signed book! ( and also an old green and cream enamel pan(!) from Vintage Treasures…I think that was the name).Now I must finish some designs and try to earn some money so I can afford that top from Desigual! By the way, what do you think about posting images of current work on the internet? How do you balance self promotion with copyright issues? just a thought….

Diamond Days

I took this photograph last year, in the days when autumn used to be misty and golden with dewy crystal spider webs and purple heather fading to rust.Not this endless parade of grey days and a feeling of constant dampness, like waking up in a tent wearing yesterday’s clothes, yuk!

I’m dying some fabric today,ready to start some freelance designs for New Leaf who are based in Cheshire. I’m really excited about this opportunity because Lisa Graham who owns the agency seems so positive and complimentary about my work. I still think it will be a long time before I see any income from freelancing but I think its just important to keep going because otherwise all that hard work at college will have been for nothing.

Thursday will soon be here and as promised I managed to get a couple of images of the new paintings we’ll be going to see.I think if you look at the website www.Tillyer.com you might be able to see them better, as for some reason they have come out very tiny on this page, they’re actually huge! Take a look at the picture of my daddy in his studio and you’ll get a better idea of the scale. There’s also a video which my brother made which shows “the artist at work” for those of you lucky folk with broadband. Anyway, lets hope that the work gets the critical acclaim it deserves and shows that contemporary art isn’t all about diamond skulls and clearance auctions.

Time to throw another log on the stove and get some stitching done.

Water Water Everywhere…

I’m feeling a bit fuzzy today after staying up till 3am reading “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, I’m only up to Chapter 10 ( 1981) so looks like I won’t be sleeping much till I finish it. Staying up until 1am trying to do repeats with Illustrator isn’t doing much for my beauty sleep either but at least I don’t feel at all guilty about my slow mornings drinking coffee and doing this blog.

This weekend I’m thinking of taking a trip to the Moors Center at Danby where my art teacher from long ago is having the opening of his new exhibition of water colours. Richard Pottas recently quit teaching at Whitby Community College to concentrate full time on his painting, and I must say these are really different from the work I remember him doing back in my school days.Here are three images of his work, you can see more on his website, or better still, go to Danby!

Back to the drawing board for me now..Wow, the rain is insane out there! Is it the end of the world as we know it? I seem to have talked about rain far too much this year!

Why Does It Always Rain On Me?

Today I’m loving the combination of these pink Cone Flowers and chocolatey brown foliage ( I wish I could remember what they’re called, since the label blew away). I want to sit and paint them and make an embroidered design since I saw someone wearing a brown top with bright pink stitching the other day!

Its so frustrating this post college need to be commercial. The need to make some pennies in order to keep the home fires burning (coal has gone from ₤6 to ₤10 a bag this year!!) What happens to all that creativity when all last year’s graduates end up back behind the bar or checkout ?

Ok, that was just a little rant on another rainy day here on Witchmountain! The swallows are starting to gather ready for the trip South and the garden is full of Lilies as tall as me which look like they’ve fallen out of a Pre-Raphaelite painting.

Above is a quick sketch I did with Biro and water colour. Biros are great for drawing with but I can never find one when I need one! I also like the distressed effect of water colour over a base of emulsion paint.

Yes, But Is It Art?…

Its a beautiful morning, not a cloud in the sky, but the man on the radio says its going to get “disappointing” later.Oh well, its a good job I plan to spend the day working on some more designs and embroidery samples; the jungle outside will have to wait.

Here are some drawing sheets inspired by the Wiener Werkstätte. I love the textiles and jewelry of this period , and of course the painting of Gustav Klimt…is the Liverpool exhibition still on I wonder?

Talking of painting, next week sees the opening of William Tillyer’s new exhibition “The Cadiz Caprices” at Bernard Jacobson Gallery,Cork Street, London. It runs from September 12- October 11 and we’re all looking forward to the private view and a family weekend in the city to celebrate! The paintings look great, imposing creations inspired by a summer spent in Cadiz. I will try to get hold of an image to show you but until then have a look at www.Tillyer.com.

Finally, a big THANK YOU to Tigerprint for putting a piece about this blog (and my friend Lyndsay McBean’s) on their blog which meant I got loads of visitors yesterday and I’d like to say how much I appreciate people taking the time to look. Its especially welcome living in a place like this which could easily feel very isolated!

Sorry about the quality of the photograph, I took it with my phone, driving home one day, because the cloud was so heavy you could almost touch it and there was a patch of sunlight lighting up the distance.Amazing…but a lesson to always carry a decent camera!

Owls and Unicorns

September already.School term starts on Wednesday and it seems strange not to be thinking of going back to college.So I dug out some old pieces of embroidery whilst searching for inspiration. The fabric had been dyed using heather, strangely turning out this murky green rather than the amazing purple that covers the moors at the moment.I’ve been trying to take a picture while the heather is at its best, but the weather has been so gloomy and I’m not particularly fantastic at photography.Anyway it’s impossible to capture the way it feels to be completely surrounded by purple and green with the scent of honey in the air.

( Yorkshire Heather Honey as produced by Trevor Swales of Osmotherley, is the best in the world.Sadly this year many of his bees were struck down with a virus so stock up quick if you want some for your toast! Apparently it will be gold-dust this year…)

This unicorn is part of a design sheet I’ve been working on for Redhill Productions.I know I’m meant to be doing flat Illustrator work but I just couldn’t resist printing it out on to fabric and stitching into it a bit.As you can see from the owl above, I like to work with layers of print,appliqué and distressed fabric so I guess I’m just going to have to try harder to make my designs more commercial!

Reading :”Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” Hunter S. Thompson

Listening to : The Police “Bring on the Night” !!